Methodists provide aid in hard-hit Indonesian province
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose A fishing boat lies amid the debris clogging the waterfront in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the tsunami.
|
An
overturned fishing boat lies amid the debris clogging the waterfront in
Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the Dec. 26 tsunami. A delegation of
mission and communications leaders of the United Methodist Church
visited areas of Sumatra, Indonesia, near the epicenter of the
earthquake that triggered the waves. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo #05-056. Accompanies UMNS story #036, 1/14/05 |
Jan. 14, 2005By Linda Bloom* BIREUEN,
Indonesia (UMNS) – When U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited
Banda Aceh to survey tsunami damage there, the world’s attention
followed. Other
scenes of destruction in the Aceh Province have received less notice.
The town of Bireuen is one of them, according to the Rev. Fajar Lim of
the Gereja Methodist Indonesia (Methodist Church of Indonesia). "As
far as you can see, all of the houses of fishermen in Bireuen are
demolished," Lim tells a delegation of visiting United Methodists. Fishing
boats also were destroyed and crops cannot be replanted for at least a
year. "The salt coming from the ocean water has permeated all the
farmland," he explains. The
Methodist church in Bireuen has become a coordination center for
assistance to the 11 area camps holding some 8,600 internally displaced
people. One service has been to sponsor teams of doctors and nurses from
the Chinese Christian Relief Association in Taiwan. Dr.
Charles Yeh, a gynecologist, has just arrived in Bireuen on Jan. 13
with a new team from Taiwan. They will provide clinics in the camps for
the next week. Of most concern, he says, are infectious diseases such as
pneumonia and diarrhea. One
of his team’s stops will be a camp of about 700 in a resort area known
as Bateilik. Families there live under large tents and congregate under
trees and along the riverbank. Large metal tanks provide clean drinking
water. Although
children, who are in joyful abundance at the camp, and the elderly are
most vulnerable to disease after such a disaster, Yeh believes the water
setup there and at other camps will help contain any major outbreaks.
"I think the situation is quite stable," he says. The
Methodist assistance is provided to people of all religions, according
to Bishop Rusman Pungka Mual, but their work is sometimes challenged by
the fact that they are a minority in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. "In
our Christian ministry, we have encountered numerous difficulties,
especially in Banda Aceh and Aceh Province as a whole," he explains. The
response by Indonesian Methodists to the tsunami disaster will continue
to receive support from United Methodists through the United Methodist
Committee on Relief, according to the Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR’s chief
executive.
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose Relief supplies from around the world pour into the airport at Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
|
Relief
supplies from around the world pour into the airport at Banda Aceh,
Indonesia, following the Dec. 26 tsunami. A delegation of mission and
communications leaders of the United Methodist Church visited areas of
Sumatra, Indonesia, near the epicenter of the earthquake that triggered
the waves. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo #05-055. Accompanies UMNS story #036, 1/14/05 |
A delegation from the
denomination presented a supply of medicines to Yeh and Indonesian
Methodists as a symbolic gesture of the desire to assist. "Any amount of
pharmaceutical distribution that they want to undertake we will
support," Dirdak adds.Other
avenues of support to be investigated, he says, include developing
theological tools to use in relationship to the tragedy and assisting
with proven methods of water safety and building construction. For
example, if Indonesian Methodists encounter a community where clean
water is a problem, he says, "We can provide equipment that will stay in
that community and purify water for years to come." Machines
that make blocks for building construction have been successful in
Mozambique and several other countries, according to Dirdak. In
the future, it is possible that UMCOR will serve as an implementing
agency for Action by Churches Together, a coalition of religious-based
relief organization.
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose A man picks through the wreckage of beachfront homes in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
|
A
man picks through the wreckage of beachfront homes in Banda Aceh,
Indonesia, following the Dec. 26 tsunami that devastated the area. A
delegation of mission and communications leaders of the United Methodist
Church visited areas of Sumatra, Indonesia, near the epicenter of the
earthquake that triggered the waves. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo
#05-050. Accompanies UMNS story #036, 1/14/05 |
In that case, Dirdak
says, they would work with the Office Coordination Humanitarian
Assistance agency of the United Nations to help determine which
communities in the countries affected by the tsunami disaster "are being
underserved" by relief groups."Our
expertise is community-based construction and income-generation," he
explains. UMCOR does "accompanied returns," working on a case-by-case
basis with families in camps for the internally displaced to rebuild
homes or provide for relocation. Donations
to UMCOR’s "South Asia Emergency" relief efforts can be placed in local
church offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive,
Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Designate checks for UMCOR Advance #274305
and "South Asia Emergency." Online donations can be made at
www.methodistrelief.org. Those making credit-card donations can call
(800) 554-8583. One hundred percent of the money donated to "South Asia
Emergency" goes to that relief effort. *Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York. News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
|